the san francisco board of supervisors. a round of applause, please. [applause] our event shares and co-chairs. [reading names] >> all right, thank you. [applause] >> those people give money, so please applaud. >> next, i would like to

introduce betty yee, the 2014 candidate for controller. john, maybe you could give her some advice. [applause] >> good evening. as we celebrate the contributions of some very important figures in our history, who have contributed to the development of our country, every state, of this great city, as we honor the achievements of the congressmen, ongoing contributions, and our mayor in san francisco. each of us could not be doing

the work we are doing, that we have done, without the doors of opportunity having been opened for each of us. making sure we are developing the leaders of tomorrow as part of the integral programs of leadership development and civic engagement. the internships program is designed to prepare college students to become our future leaders. by providing them with the opportunities to work with government agencies, they develop their leadership skills, public policy experience, and broaden their civic engagement. they have demonstrated a dedication to the community, and they will continue in their engagement by working professionally with their fellow peers and mentors. warning in workshops to enhance their leadership skills emperor -- learning and workshops to enhance their leadership skills.

we thank the local state and federal offices before hosting an intern and we think of the elected officials for their continued leadership and for opening the door for mentoring are new leaders. please join me in congratulating and welcoming the internships class of 2012. will you please join me on stage? [applause] mayor, will you join us for a photograph, please?

>> thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. one more round of applause. [applause] if you look around you tonight, you will see poster board. celebrating, acknowledging, the first asian americans. we have the first asian-american actress in hollywood. the first asian-american nba player. the first members of congress. these interns are the future of our community. they are the reason why we are here today. we're also here to celebrate and

recognize one of the greatest members of our community. this year it is the first year we are giving the lifetime achievement award. the lifetime achievement award this year is going to secretary norman manetta. he is a trailblazer. a man who paved the way for many of us. he was the first asian-american mayor of a major city. he was elected to congress 10 times. he was the first person to serve two presidents in a cabinet. first as secretary of commerce to president clinton, secretary of transportation to president

bush. it was on 9/11 that secretary mineta showed us what he was made of. he made the call to ground all of the planes. it was secretary mineta who instituted the policy is -- policies at tsa. it was secretary mineta who prevented the profiling of arab- americans and muslim americans in our country. tonight, we honor secretary mineta and we give them -- him this for a very special reason. i want to thank the san francisco giants for donating this bat. the reason why we are giving this back to secretary mineta is

because of what happened to him when he was a young boy. secretary mineta was forced to relocate into the internment camps. as a young boy, he was taken to the train station by military police officers. as a young boy, he was a huge baseball fan and he had his prized possession with him, his baseball bat. military police saw the young boy with his baseball bat and said you are not taking it with you. that is a weapon. what did they do? they took away his prized possession. later on in his life as a member of congress, a very generous person heard the story and offered him an autographed hank aaron bat. as a member of congress, you are

not allowed to accept a gift valued over $200. so the government took away his back again. tonight, we cannot replace the bat that was taken away from that young boy. but we do give them something that we hope will take its place. ladies and gentlemen, i present to you the first ever recipient to of the lifetime achievement award for services rendered to the asian american community and services rendered to our nation. i give to you secretary mineta. [applause]

>> i cannot think of a more appropriate gift tonight than to receive this bat. i want to thank the mayor, and everyone, members of the board of supervisors, for hosting this event tonight. all of us who have had the privilege of serving in public service have gone to that point because we were standing on the shoulders of those who preceded us. i want everybody here to remember that whenever they do in the future, bring everything you are and bring everything you want to the jobs you are going to be doing. there are tremendous opportunities that are out there. asian-pacific american heritage

week is a time for all of us to be able to show the majority community what we are capable of doing. it is also a time when people in the asian pacific american community are learning about each other. many people say that the united states should be a melting pot. i did not believe in the melting pot theory. when you have a melting pot, you put all the ingredients into the bowl, stir it up, and everybody loses their identity. in the asian pacific american community, there are over 150 languages, religions, cultures,

everything you can think of. we do not want to lose that identity of our own history regardless of where our forefathers have come from. i want everybody to be proud to of the language of their forbearers, the religion, the history, the culture, and the arts. again, i do not want us to lose our identity and the community in this great nation. again, thank you very much to the members of the boards for this wonderful gift bestowed upon me, and let's go ahead to continue to hit the ball park -- hit the ball at the ballpark. thank you very much.

[applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, we will bring up our founder to say a few last words. we would like to ask all of the previous speakers to come up for a photograph. it is the hard work of these board members -- without their hard work, none of this would happen. thank you to everyone.

>> we would also like for the judicial officers in the audience to come up as well. if you are a sponsor, please come on up.

we will ask the founder to speak a few words. ladies and gentlemen, we will start our cultural program after words. food will be served in the four corners of the program is going on. i present you the founder. >> thank you very much. thank you.

i especially want to thank the organizers and the leaders of the event. i want to thank you for coming here to celebrate the heritage month. i especially want to thank the state leaders, some are here, and some are not. enjoy the rest of the celebration. have a good time, take care. thank you. >> ladies and gentlemen, i would like to give a round of applause to our emceed tonight. tonight.

>> good morning, everyone. i am the president of the board of directors of the golden gate bridge highway and transportation district. it is my absolute pleasure to welcome all of you here this morning. thank you so much for coming out. as caretakers of this magnificent bridge, all of us here in the district know how treasured this landmark is and

we know that each of us sees this bridge as our very own. it has its own personal meeting, its own history, and even its own emotional pull. that is why we celebrate this 75th anniversary with the theme bridging us all. since its inception, the golden gate bridge has had the power to connect us, and we happily share this bridge with the city, the bay area, state, nation, and even the world. to kick off our celebration today, it is only fitting that we are joined by so many special guests, the people, organizations, and public agencies that have been absolutely instrumental in helping us kick off this anniversary celebration. first, i would like to welcome the wonderful organizing partners of our 75th anniversary and all those representing those partners who have joined with us here today. we begin with the golden gate

bridge highway transportation district board and staff. [applause] raise your hand, board members and staff. the golden gate national parks conservancy board, board associates, and staff. where are you? [applause] the national park service. [applause] the presidio trust board and staff. [applause] and the elected officials and the staff of the great city and county of san francisco. [applause] than today we want to welcome our corporate partners who have supported our anniversary with funding and communications support. we are especially grateful to our to our partners.

genentech, represented by jeffrey teeter. [applause] hewlett-packard, represented today by kirsten rivera. [applause] kaiser permanente take, represented by yvette radford. [applause] wells fargo, represented by richard belite. [applause] to our cable partner, odwalla, represented by mason thorton. [applause] to our building partner, chevron, represented by russ yaro. [applause] david miller. [applause]

levi strauss and co., represented by jill nash. [applause] pg&e, represented today by tony early. [applause] who proposed to his beautiful wife on the golden gate bridge. a fantastic story. [applause] speeck products -- speck products, represented by their whole marketing team. [applause] thank you all so much. we would not be here without your brief and to support. please join me in expressing our gratitude to our media and promotion partners -- and this is quite a list. nbc bay area. [applause] san francisco chronicle, sf gate, kgo, knbr, kfso, san

francisco magazine, san francisco travels, telemundo, and because it is the 21st century, twitter. and of course, we are grateful to our business and individual contributors, through our joseph strauss legacy circle. we welcome all of them here today. for the lead car predict we thank bank of america foundation. thank you. [applause] and deep gratitude to the reset and of goldman fund for your the individual gift. thank you so much lisa and doug. [applause] today, on this memorial day weekend, we are honored to be joined by representatives from our armed forces and san francisco fleet week

association, who will be introduced later in the program. [applause] finally, we are thrilled to have so many public agencies, special districts, and elected officials joined us today. we have to of representatives from congresswoman woolsey's office and jackie spear's office. we want to welcome you. [applause] we have supervisors here today representing the board of supervisors from our six golden gate counties, and we extend our warmest welcome to all of you. [applause] today, the six counties that put up everything they had to build this bridge. we certainly honor you today. as we stand in the great city of san francisco, we want to offer a special welcome to the president of the san francisco board of supervisors, mr. david chiu.

[applause] david, we welcome your colleagues as well. of course, we are honored to have with us so many of our transportation partners at the federal, state, regional, and county levels. thank you very much. there are a lot of people to think. today, we officially open in amazing collection of gives made in honor of the anniversary. the british pavilion, as you can see behind me, is our new welcome place an interpretation. the enlarged josef strauss plaza is a place for visitors to gather. the renovated round house visitor program center is a place of education and discovery and memory. just beyond where we stand today, you can see our improved trails and new overlooks constructed as an additional anniversary gifts. we hope you have your tennis

shoes on and can go for a hike after this is over. we want to extend our sincere and special thanks to the golden gate national parks conservancy. they are a nonprofit connecting the bridge to a nearby national park. we thank them for raising the funds to celebrate the anniversary and building the improvements that we will dedicate today, in concert with the national parks service. we owe them a great debt of gratitude [applause] --gratitude. [applause] the conservancy did not do it alone. they were supported by a stellar collection of civic leaders who volunteer their time and talents to serve on the golden gate bridge anniversary steering committee. the committee is headed by cochairs nancye helman and larry bear. without their of leadership, none of this would have been possible.

[applause] i want to welcome not only them, but all of the steering committee, and the host committee members who are here today. please identify yourself. [applause] the bridge and the city of san francisco have a special connection. cynically, physically, and culturally. we have been so honored to have the city as an organizing partner for the 75th anniversary with a fabulous leadership of mayor at the and the super support of the special events director martha colon, as well as all of the city departments. ladies and gentlemen, please help me in giving a warm welcome to the mayor who bridges us all, mayor ed lee. [applause] >> thank you very much for that wonderful welcome.

thank you, everyone, for coming. we are glad you are so boring. that is wonderful. -- so orange. thank you for joining all of us. so glad to be here with our board of supervisors, police chief, fire chief, so many of our other department directors. a wonderful occasion to celebrate the 75th anniversary of this iconic symbol and a bridge for so many other reasons, not just transportation. in fact, when i was courting and the head back in hong kong those days, it was both the golden arches and the golden gate bridge that i tried to get her over here. it is my pleasure to join all of you. i want to welcome governor brown, leader pelosi. thank you for your wonderful years of service. we just honored nancy for her

25 years in service. thank you so much for your service. jerry, your 2500 years of service. [laughter] i want to also recognize our general superintendent, frank dean, thank you for being here. craig milton, our presidio trust general executive director. brent mar, ceo of our national park conservancy. dennis mulligan, and general manager of the bridge highway district transportation. of course, i want to reiterate janet's praise for larry and nancy for coming up with the

celebration. i cannot think of a better parent to come up with this. thank you for your wonderful leadership. [applause] today is not only a great celebration for our bridge but also a time to do some reflection on what it has meant to us. as janet said earlier, we talk about today, what i've tried to do, making sure we aren't the innovation capital of the world, but in 1937, this bridge was the national symbol of innovation. a great effort behind this bridge. joseph strauss, charles ellis' fantastic design and leadership. of course, i have been tried to remember the mayor at that time -- andrew rossi -- his leadership as well. when we completed this bridge, it was not without cost, so we have to take a